Thursday, January 19, 2017

The CBC has an obligation to screen its contributors for a minimum standard of decency and good taste

January 19, 2017 — BC Blue My complaint filed with the CBC Ombudsman Esther Enkin:
As the nation’s public broadcaster, the CBC has an obligation to
screen its contributors for a minimum standard of decency and good taste
before offering them access to this powerful and important forum. I
believe the CBC failed this standard by permitting Sam Khanlari to
author a column on the CBC News Opinion site on January 15, 2017.
A few days before Mr. Khanlari’s column (“Now more than ever, Canada must join the chorus of support for the Iran nuclear deal,” Jan. 15, 2017) was published, Mr. Khanlari posted a tweet speculating about staying “in the Trump Tower for one week” and “Piss [sic] on all the walls and smoke weed[.]”
Mr. Khanlari’s tweet was not only in enormously bad taste, it
significantly undermined his ability to offer credible, mature
commentary on the incoming Trump administration, which his Jan. 15
column purported to offer. I believe the CBC failed to adequately screen
Mr. Khanlari before offering him access to the CBC Opinion website, and
have now embarrassed and harmed the public broadcaster by doing so.
I believe the CBC must issue an apology on behalf of Mr. Khanlri and remove him from posting on the CBC website.
Thank you
Dean Skoreyko https://bcblue.wordpress.com/2017/01/19/cbc-columnist-stating-he-might-piss-on-the-walls-of-trump-tower-hotel/